HP ProCurve series 2500 Management And Configuration Manual page 300

Configuring Advanced Features
Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)
Enabling or Disabling STP. Enabling STP implements the spanning-tree
protocol for all physical ports on the switch, regardless of whether multiple
VLANs are configured. Disabling STP removes protection against redundant
loops that can significantly slow or halt a network.
Syntax:
Default:
This command enables STP with the current parameter settings or disables
STP withoug losing the most-recently configured parameter settings. (To learn
how the switch handles parameter changes, how to test changes without
losing the previous settings, and how to replace previous settings with new
settings, see appendix C, "Switch Memory and Configuration".) When
enabling STP, you can also include the STP general and per-port parameters
described in the next two sections. When you use the "no" form of the
command, you can do so only to disable STP. (STP parameter settings are not
changed when you disable STP, and cannot be included with the no spanning-
tree command.
C a u t i o n
Because incorrect STP settings can adversely affect network performance,
HP recommends that you use the default STP parameter settings. You should
not change these settings unless you have a strong understanding of how STP
operates. For more on STP, see the IEEE 802.1D standard.
Reconfiguring General STP Operation on the Switch. This command
enables STP (if it is not already enabled) and configures one or more of the
following parameters:
Table 9-10.General STP Operating Parameters
Name
priority
maximum-age 20 seconds 6 - 40
hello-time
forward-delay 15 seconds 4 - 30
9-106
[no] spanning-tree
Disabled
Default Range Function
32768 0 - 65535 Specifies the priority value used along with the
switch MAC address to determine which device is
root. The lower a priority value, the higher the
priority.
Maximum received message age the switch allows
seconds for STP information before discarding the message,
2 seconds 1 - 10 Time between messages transmitted when the
switch is the root.
Time the switch waits before transitioning from the
seconds listening to the learning state, and between the
learning state to the forwarding state.
e
Enables STP on the switch.